Springtime in the Netherlands (1950)
*** (out of 4)
Good entry in James A. FitzPatrick's TravelTalks series takes us to Holland where we learn about windmills and tulips. With the windmills we learn that they were created in the 16th century with the watermill being the first used to get water from the marsh lands. The majority of the running time is devoted to the tulip and if you ever wanted to know the history of the flower then you're going to get it here. We learn that in Holland people worship the flower and many children's first words are to the flower. We learn about the various ways they are grown, where they are believed to come from and we hear about a rare version that takes 5-10 years to bloom with each one selling for over $1,000. This is a pretty good entry in the series for a number of reasons but it certainly doesn't hurt that the subject matter is so interesting. I'm not a flower person but I found this detailed history to be quite entertaining. It should go without saying but the real highlight is the Technicolor and it's a real benefit here especially towards the end of the movie when we're in a field where various colors of the flower are growing and the different images really jump off the screen.